Inquisitive Hobbits Want To Know
by LegolasLover2003
Summary: Merry and Pippin wonder just why Legolas can walk on the snow, and it goes without saying why he also couldn't carry them in it. Aragorn attempts to explain, but the attempt backfires on the Ranger and Legolas gets the last laugh with a story from Estel's childhood. Written for the April 2014 Teitho Challenge (but it did not place).


**Title:** _Inquisitive Hobbits Want To Know..._  
**Author:** LegolasLover2003 aka Ashley  
**Category:** Book - _"The Lord of the Rings"_  
**Genre:** General  
**Rating:** G  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own any rights to _"The Lord of the Rings"_. I just adore it to pieces.  
**Note:** This story was written for the April 2014 Teitho Fanfiction Challenge. The Theme was "Mystery". It did not however place.  
**Note 2:** Full portion in italics at the beginning is from _"The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring"_.

* * *

_As the light grew stronger it showed a silent shrouded world. Below their refuge were white humps and domes and shapeless deeps beneath which the path that they had trodden was altogether lost; but the heights above were hidden in great clouds still heavy with the threat of snow.  
Gimli looked up and shook his head. 'Caradhras has not forgiven us,' he said. 'He has more snow yet to fling at us, if we go on. The sooner we go back and down the better.'  
To this all agreed, but their retreat was now difficult. It might well prove impossible. Only a few paces from the ashes of their fire the snow lay many feet deep, higher than the heads of the hobbits; in places it had been scooped and piled by the wind into great drifts against the cliff.  
'If Gandalf would go before us with a bright flame, he might melt a path for you,' said Legolas. The storm troubled him little, and he alone of the Company remained still light of heart.  
'If Elves could fly over mountains, they might fetch the Sun to save us,' answered Gandalf. 'But I must have something to work on. I cannot burn snow.'  
'Well,' said Boromir, 'when heads are at a loss bodies must serve, as we say in my country. The strongest of us must seek a way. See! Though all is now snow-clad, our path, as we came up, turned about that shoulder of rock down yonder. It was there that the snow first began to burden us. If we could reach that point, maybe it would prove easier beyond. It is not more than a furlong off, I guess.'  
'Then let us force a path thither, you and I!' said Aragorn.  
Aragorn was the tallest of the Company, but Boromir, little less in height, was broader and heavier in build. He led the way, and Aragorn followed him. Slowly they moved off, and were soon toiling heavily. In places the snow was breast-high, and often Boromir seemed to be swimming or burrowing with his great arms rather than walking.  
Legolas watched them for a while with a smile upon his lips, and then he turned to the others. 'The strongest must seek a way, say you? But I say: let a ploughman plough, but choose an otter for swimming, and for running light over grass and leaf, or over snow – an Elf.'  
With that he sprang forth nimbly, and then Frodo noticed as if for the first time, though he had long known it, that the Elf had no boots, but wore only light shoes, as he always did, and his feet made little imprint in the snow.  
'Farewell!' he said to Gandalf. 'I go to find the Sun!' Then swift as a runner over firm sand he shot away, and quickly overtaking the toiling men, with a wave of his hand he passed them, and sped into the distance, and vanished round the rocky turn._

_ The others waited huddled together, watching until Boromir and Aragorn dwindled into black specks in the whiteness. At length they too passed from sight. The time dragged on. The clouds lowered, and now a few flakes of snow came curling down again,  
An hour, maybe, went by, though it seemed far longer, and then at last they saw Legolas coming back. At the same time Boromir and Aragorn reappeared round the bend far behind him and came labouring up the slope.  
'Well,' cried Legolas as he ran up, 'I have not brought the Sun. She is walking in the blue fields of the South, and a little wreath of snow on this Redhorn hillock troubles her not at all. But I have brought back a gleam of good hope for those who are doomed to go on feet. There is the greatest wind-drift of all just beyond the turn, and there our Strong Men were almost buried. They despaired, until I returned and told them that the drift was little wider than a wall. And on the other side the snow suddenly grows less, while further down it is no more than a white coverlet to cool a hobbit's toes.'  
'Ah, it is as I said,' growled Gimli. 'It was no ordinary storm. It is the ill will of Caradhras. He does not love Elves and Dwarves, and that drift was laid to cut off our escape.'  
'But happily your Caradhras as forgotten that you have Men with you,' said Boromir, who came up at that moment. 'And doughty Men too, if I may say it; though lesser men with spades might have served you better. Still, we have thrust a lane through the drift; and for that all here may be grateful who cannot run as light as Elves.'  
'But how are we to get down there, even if you have cut through the drift?' said Pippin, voicing the thought of all the hobbits.  
'Have hope!' said Boromir. 'I am weary, but I still have some strength left, and Aragorn too. We will bear the little folk. The others no doubt will make shift to tread the path behind us. Come, Master Peregrin! I will begin with you.'  
He lifted up the hobbit. 'Cling to my back! I shall need my arms,' he said and strode forward. Aragorn with Merry came behind. Pippin marvelled at his strength, seeing the passage that he had already forced with no other tool than his great limbs. Even now, burdened as he was, he was widening the track for those who followed, thrusting the snow aside as he went.  
They came at length to the great drift. It was flung across the mountain-path like a sheer and sudden wall, and its crest, sharp as if shaped with knives, reared up more than twice the height of Boromir; but through the middle a passage had been beaten, rising and falling like a bridge. On the far side Merry and Pippin were set down, and there they waited with Legolas for the rest of the Company to arrive.  
After a while Boromir returned carrying Sam. Behind in the narrow but now well-trodden track came Gandalf, leading Bill with Gimli perched among the baggage. Last came Aragorn carrying Frodo._

* * *

**Inquisitive Hobbits Want To Know...**

* * *

"It's been bothering me for a while now..."  
Blinking at the sudden break in the silence, well... a silence that consisted of Gandalf muttering mostly to himself about stubborn spells, Legolas glanced down to the pair of Hobbits who were sitting nearby. The Elf himself was standing beneath a large tree, barely to be seen in the darkness, so similar were his garments to the bark and foliage that shielded him from view.  
"What has, Master Merry?" the archer asked, curious as to why the Brandybuck was starring at him quizzically. In truth, Legolas was half tempted to ask if he had a stick bug on his head or something else of equal interest.  
The young Hobbit folded his arms over his chest, leaning back slightly upon the rock he was sitting against and fixing the Elf with an even more intense stare. "How'd you do it?"  
Legolas laughed slightly, "Do what? I ask again for I have no idea what has you so perplexed, my good Hobbit."  
"The snow!" Pippin replied from Merry's side, watching the archer now as well. "Merry an I've been trying ta figure it out a while now and neither of us can come up with an answer."  
For a moment, Legolas just stared at the two before glancing at Aragorn with a look that plainly said, 'Help... I do not speak Hobbit...' because for the life of the prince, he knew not what they meant about 'the snow.'  
Aragorn of course, started to laugh. "I asked Legolas that once myself." spoke the Ranger as he stood, stretching his long legs before walking over to sit on the ground beneath the tree. "You would think it the shoes." the man continued, grabbing one of Legolas' legs by the ankle and lifting it up.  
"Estel!" the prince jumped upward slightly. Just enough to grab a tree limb overhead and keep himself from falling over at the sudden upheaval to his balance. "Taw nu-carel, goro nin..." Legolas muttered, to which the human just smirked and continued talking, now pointing at the underside of the archer's foot. ~([Warn me before doing that...])~  
"Legolas' shoes are very light, but as you can see, they are not so different from the shoes of a maiden, at least where the sole is concerned."  
Raising one eyebrow, Legolas stared at the human in annoyance. "Nin ad-sui gwên..." ~{[Compare me to a maiden again...]}~  
"Ú-le. Lîn hebaid." Aragorn replied, waving a hand dismissively at the Elf. ~{[Not you. Your shoes.]}~  
This of course made the Hobbits smirk at each other, though they knew not what was being said of course, and the archer bristle just a tad at being a joke. "Estel..."  
Yet the man continued as if his friend had said nothing. "So it can not be the shoes, can it?"  
"Are Elves just lighter in general?" Merry asked, watching the human and Elf in amusement. "I mean, he looks like he would weigh the same as yourself... maybe less but not by much."  
Aragorn glanced up at the prince, letting go of Legolas' ankle. "Well I would pick him up to show that he weighs as much as myself but..."  
"But I would kick you if you tried to at this point." the archer replied as he released his hold on the tree and suddenly... well... he was simply standing on the Ranger's head!  
Both Hobbits gaped at this, their eyes going wide and mouths hanging a bit slack jawed.  
It was eventually Merry who found his voice first however. "I... I thought you weighed..."  
"Weighed the same? Yes." Legolas replied before lightly jumping down from the top of the human's head to land on the ground beside the two Hobbits. "But unlike mortals who clomp and plod about, Elves pick their footing, thank you." he spoke with a now amused smile of his own. "We distribute our weight evenly, adjusting it as needed for the terrain. My foot prints in the snow were very light and barely to be seen, correct?"  
Merry nodded, but it was Pippin this time who finally spoke up. "I didnna even notice them til Frodo pointed them out ta me." spoke the young Took. "How is it you didnna break Aragorn's neck like that?"  
"Because it was not the first time I stood on his head." Legolas replied as he crouched down at Hobbit level beside the pair. "Would you like to hear a story, Master Peregrin?"  
At this turn of events... Aragorn groaned...

* * *

"THIS ISN'T FAIR!"  
The laughing voices of a pair of snickering Elves wafted down from the trees to the young human as Estel stood in the midst of a blanketed field of snow within the confines of Imladris. Of course, being a mortal, the poor boy was almost up to his chest in the white stuff, which was quite impressive when one considered he was only twelve years of age and still had quite a bit of growing to do.  
Again there was a thumping thud of a sound as snow in the form of a ball hit the boy on the head from above.  
"RO! EL! How it is fair to hold a snowball fight if you are both hiding where I can't reach?!" Estel called out, brushing snow from his dark unruly locks.  
Only to have another flurry of snowballs pelt his head once more.  
Annoyed with how horribly he was losing, Estel tried to gather up snow about him, but the constant barrage eventually had the youth half collapsed in the snow and rubbing a rather sore head.  
Until... he felt something... off...  
"Ú-fael!" ~{[Not fair!]}~  
Blinking in surprise, Estel heard the voices of both of his older foster brothers up in the tree.  
Then a nearly silent 'thunk' echoed nearby, followed by a second 'thunk' and, this time, a groan. Turning his head slightly, the human was rewarded with spying Elladan laying on his back on top of the snow and Elrohir sprawled out on top of him. Both twins were glaring at the boy however, and quickly Estel raised his hands.  
"It wasn't me!" the mortal claimed quickly, until again he felt something strange about his head.  
"Hold still, Estel, or I shall fall!" came a voice quickly admonishing him.  
Except the voice was coming from above him...  
Tilting his head back finally did the job and Legolas, whom had been standing atop the human's head, brandishing snowballs at the Rivendell twins, came crashing down onto the snow. Of course the twins burst into laughter at this.  
"Poor princeling. I hope you did not bruise your backside." Elladan joked while Elrohir just laughed so hard he was almost crying.  
Confused, Estel turned at the waist to spy the Mirkwood Elf laying on his side atop the snow, head propped up on one hand.  
"Very funny, you two. I fell off a boy's head and the both of you fell out of a tree. Wonder which was harder to balance on... and which, in the end, hurt more." he teased with a smirk before winking to the human.  
Estel, for his part, was staring at the archer as if he had grown two heads. Then, it all finally made sense and the mortal was touching the top of his own head and hair, trying to figure out how Legolas had gotten up there in the first place without him even realizing it!  
The prince laughed, tossing a tiny harmless snowball at the human. "Balance is important for a properly executed attack, Estel. You should remember that... and also be more mindful of your surroundings."  
"But... but you..." the boy pointed to the Elf then his own head. "You were standing on my head! How did... how did you even..."  
Legolas fell over onto his back in the snow, staring up at the overcast grey sky above them. "I just took a step."  
It was at this moment that Estel realized something he had overlooked until now. Not only was the Mirkwood prince laying on the snow, but so were his brothers... while he, the mere mortal, was having to trudge through the chest high, ice cold mess. Up until now it had all been about the snowball fight and pelting his adoptive brothers in return for all the icy snowballs they had tossed his way to begin with. Now however... it was all too clear to the boy that these Elves certainly held the advantage when it came to snow combat.  
"Do not let it trouble you so." came Elrohir's voice as he untangled himself from his twin. "Legolas has always been better at snowball fights..."  
"Which really baffles me since you two are older and have had more practice." the prince pointed out.  
Suddenly, Estel felt himself lifted up by Elladan. "Ro... do you think our princeling would sink if we tossed a human on him?"  
Blue eyes snapped to the pair. "You would not dare... AH!"  
Estel felt himself go flying for a split second, then land in outstretched arms. Legolas winced slightly, grabbing onto the boy before he could smack fully into the prince's rib cage.  
Human and Elf exchanged a quick glance and Estel even had the time to apologize... just before the snow beneath Legolas gave way and both went crashing through the white powder to the cold ground below.  
Laughter from the twins was swift to meet their ears.

* * *

"You sank in the snow?!" Merry asked.  
Pippin was too busy laughing already.  
With a smirk Aragorn's way, the Elf nodded. "I did... with a young Ranger sitting on my chest. I could not distribute his weight since it was not my own."  
"So that was why you couldn't carry us over the snow..." the older of the two Hobbits replied, nodding at this revelation as if it made all the sense in the world.  
"And why it was easier for him to seek a way out of our predicament than trying to burrow along with Boromir and I." Aragorn added, rolling his eyes at the prince.  
He could hardly believe Legolas had told that story...  
Merry shook his head, "But I thought you were going to find the sun, Legolas?"  
"I was." replied the archer, pointing up toward the path they had tread to come to the pool before the doors of Moria. "Back there I searched the sky and soon came to realize that no sun was going to arrive to melt the snow for us. However, because I tested the snow on my way there and back, distributing my weight as a human might at times, I was able to tell where the drifts stopped and the lighter and more manageable snow began... without getting stuck." he added as a barb to the toiling mortal men who had nearly given up hope.  
It seemed that this explanation had appeased the Hobbits. Merry now realized that Elves walked on snow because they just walked differently than mortals, for the most part. It made perfect sense to him really... though now it was far less fantastical and mysterious than it had been before.  
"But wait, I donna get it..." Pippin spoke up then with a confused look on his face.  
Blinking in surprise at this notion, Legolas tilted his head to the side slightly, "Yes?"  
"Who won the snowball fight?"  
Legolas looked quickly to Aragorn and it was as if time stopped. Then, in the breath of a moment, both Elf and Human burst into laughter...  
Only to, of course, be shushed not long later by a still grumpy Gandalf who had yet to find the passwords of Moria's hidden door.

* * *

**THE END**

* * *

**Elvish Translations & Words to Know:**  
Taw nu-carel, goro nin... = Warn me before doing that...  
Nin ad-sui gwên... = Compare me to a maiden again...  
Ú-le. Lîn hebaid. = Not you. Your shoes.  
Ú-fael! = Not fair!

* * *

**Elvish Notes:**  
- Anything I use for Elvish comes directly from _"The Lord of the Rings"_ by J.R.R. Tolkien or from one of the following sources; David Salo's book _"A Gateway to Sindarin"_ (ISBN #0874808006), the online dictionary _"Parf Edhellen"_, the downloaded dictionary _"Dragonflame"_, Ruth S. Noel's book _"The Languages of Tolkien's Middle-earth" _(ISBN #0395291305), the extended edition trilogy movie dialogues cataloged online by _"The Elvish Linguistic Fellowship", _and the LOTR complete recordings lyrics cataloged online by _"A Magpie's Nest"._  
- I'm not entirely certain on the syntax of the sentence; "Taw nu-carel, goro nin...". So "goro nin" itself would be "warn me" as an imperative while "taw" is used for "that". I've used "nu-" before "carel" (car- 'to do') as a means of expressing "before" (though "nu-" also means "under") and thus making it "before doing". Also, I'm using "nin" (me) instead of "nîn" (my) or "nín" (mine) in this instance.  
- Again uncertain syntax for the sentence; "Nin ad-sui gwên...". I placed "nin" (me) at the beginning of the sentence because otherwise it would have read "Compare again to my maiden" and yeah, not what I was going for. Using "ad-sui" was a bit of a problem because it ends up meaning exactly "again-as" instead of "again-compare" (because there was no word for "compare"). Also, the same for "nin" from before applies here as well.  
- I had problems with the word "shoes" mainly because there is no word for "boot" or "shoe" so I went with the Noldorin "habad" for "shoe" and made it plural with "hebaid" in a similar manner to "adan/edain".

* * *

**Authors Notes:**  
- The copy of _"The Lord of the Rings"_ that I use (and thus that the page numbers coincide on) is ISBN #0618260242 and is all three novels in one 2003 movie-tie-in-edition book.  
- Italicized portion with Caradhras was from the book _"The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring"_, pages 284-286.  
- Stick bug comment was written because the night before I wrote this story (2014/04/22) on _"Wild Things with Dominic Monaghan"_, Dom was playing with a stick bug and I thought it was funny cause it made me think of Radagast and since Merry is the one asking Legolas this question, I stuck a stick bug into the mix!  
- And yes, Pippin has a Billy Boyd-ish / Scottish accent. Whenever Pippin says "didnna" it means "didn't" and "donna" means "don't" and "ta" means "to", because that's how I hear it in my head when he talks on screen.

* * *

**Muse Moments:**  
"So... they kicked you out?"  
Paris sighed, suitcases in hand as he is standing in the doorway.  
"For drinking?"  
Paris nodded, not really wanting to meet Nil's gaze.  
There was silence for a moment... until the explosion finally came.  
"LEGOLAS! ARAGORN!"  
"They went fishing." came the voice of the Elvenking from the opposite end of the hall. Tossing an apple in one hand, Thranduil quirks an eyebrow. "Seems I win the bet."  
"What bet?" Paris asked, glaring at the Elf.  
With a smirk, Thranduil just turned and walked off.  
"Nil, what bet?" the Trojan prince asked again.  
Wincing slightly, Nil groans. "We took wages on if you would succeed at figure skating. I lost... the Elves and Estel won..."  
Sniffing, Paris dropped his suitcases and threw his arms around Nil. "At least you believed in me!"  
"Yeah..." she replied, letting him hug her.  
Paris stopped, "Why do you not sound so sure of it all?"  
"Well, the bet was more like how long you would last... I gave you three months before you came back..."  
Dumbfounded, Paris just made a beeline for the kitchen.  
"What are you doing now?" Nil asked, following.  
"I need a drink."  
Nil couldn't help but facepalm.


End file.
